Kids as young as 11 will be able to change sex under rule change

CHILDREN as young as 11 would be able to start hormone treatment to change their sex without court approval under a looming landmark case in Sydney.

Instead the child would only need backing from the medical profession and their parents.

The Family Court has deemed the upcoming ruling so important that a full bench of five of its appeal judges will sit on the case - the first time they have done so in 12 years.

The case soon to be heard by the Full Court has been brought by the ­father of a 16-year-old given the pseudonym Kelvin, who was born female but has identified as a boy since the age of nine.

He changed schools to present as a male, used a chest-binder and in 2014 attended the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex and Questioning "campout" on the Central Coast.

The court has already decided that Kelvin is "competent" and fully understands what is ­involved in starting hormone treatment but his father has launched the appeal to ask the court to step out of the process all together.